


Stranger

by Entwinedlove



Category: Outlander (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Jamie Travels Through the Stones, Gen, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:21:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25470790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Entwinedlove/pseuds/Entwinedlove
Summary: Jamie gets separated from the others and has a rest atop Craigh Na Dun.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10
Collections: Juletide 2020, Of Years & Yonder





	Stranger

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Corina (CorinaLannister)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CorinaLannister/gifts).



Jamie knew better, he really did, but in the confusion of the skirmish and the brain fog that happened when his shoulder dislocated, he'd ended up further from Murtagh, Dougal and the others.

This was especially bad since he had a bounty on his vibrant ginger head.

He crouched low behind one of the standing stones at the top of Craigh Na Dun and watched for the Redcoats. He heard a few gunshots echo in the hills but soon the irregular sound of them faded away. Finally, the pain of his shoulder overrode his vigilance, and he turned and slumped back against the stone. He'd left his horse hidden in a copse of trees to the north of his location but it was likely he wouldn't be able to ride in his condition. He sure as hell couldn't wield his sword. Jamie closed his eyes for a moment, just to rest a little, before trying to figure out what next to do. He hadn't planned on falling asleep.

A howling wind awoke him with a jolt. At least he hadn't slept for too long. He could hear horrible shouting and the cries of men dying. Had his kin come back for him? He scrambled to his knees and moved towards the centre stone, thinking he'd get a better vantage point on whatever the ruckus was from the other side of the circle.

Crawling without the use of one of his arms made him wobbly and at one point he tipped over crashed into the centre stone with his dislocated shoulder.

The amount of pain he felt increased tenfold, and he rolled onto his back to try and breath through it. It swam through him and made his stomach swoop and roll. His skin prickled with sweat and he felt as if he'd been turned inside out for a moment and then put back together. As he inhaled slowly, again and again, he noticed that the wind had died down. The shouting had gone as well. Had he passed out?

"Where did you come from?" a woman's voice said from above him.

Jamie tilted his face up to look behind him. A pretty woman with wild dark curls in only her shift stood there looking at him with concern on her features.

"Me?" he asked, struggling to sit himself up. "I was just over..." He looked in the direction of the stone he'd been propped up against and beyond it. The little sapling he'd passed on the way up was now an enormous oak with a trunk thicker around than Mrs Fitz. He grimaced, both because of the pain in his shoulder and in confusion.

"You're hurt!" the woman said, kneeling to get a better look at him. "How did you even manage... " she started to ask but seemed to decide not to finish her question. "I can't fix it for you if you can hold yourself still; I'm a nurse."

"Aye," he murmured as he watched her. She was only wearing her shift and he caught himself looking at her breasts.

She caught him looking and frowned at him but didn't say anything more, just manoeuvred his arm and told him to brace himself. He gritted his teeth against the pain and then suddenly, with a crunchy sort of pop, the pain eased dramatically. "It doesn't hurt any more," he said, feeling a sense of awe towards the woman.

"It will," she assured him. "I don't have anything to fashion a sling from with me, but I can drive you back to the city if you like. I'm Claire Randall, by the way."

He knew he shouldn't go with her, this Sassenach named Randall, especially to English-controlled Inverness where Black Jack might find him, but instinct was telling him she was safe. He'd always trusted his instincts, and they had rarely led him astray thus far, so he accepted the woman's hand up and her offer of a drive. "Jamie McTavish," he said, introducing himself.

What his instincts were telling him, besides that he could trust this woman, was that there was something else, something... not necessarily _wrong_ but _different_. Something that he would need help figuring out. It wasn't just the tree, or this woman in her shift, or her offer but all of it together. He knew without a doubt that his instincts were right when she led him to a horseless carriage made of smooth dark metal.

Something was definitely _not right._


End file.
